Food of the Gods II (1989)

Director:

Damian Lee

Writers (WGA):

Richard Bennett (story)
Richard Bennett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 May 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror

Tagline:

It's their party... you can die if you want to.

Plot:

A growth hormone experiment gets out of hand, when the the resulting giant man-eating rats escape, reaking havoc on the unsuspecting campus...

Plot Keywords:

Rat | Cancer | Giant Child | Mutant Animal | Giant Animal

Cast

Paul Coufos	...	Professor Neil Hamilton
Lisa Schrage	...	Alex Reed
Réal Andrews	...	Mark Hales
Stuart Hughes	...	Al
Karen Hines	...	Angie
Frank Pellegrino	...	Joshua
Jackie Burroughs	...	Dr. Kate Travis
Sean Mitchell	...	Bobby
Colin Fox	...	Professor Edmond Delhurst
David B. Nichols	...	Dean White
Robert Kennedy	...	Brett
Michael Copeman	...	Lt. Weizel
Frank Moore	...	Jacques
Howard Jerome	...	Louis
Deborah Cass	...	Elaine

Also Known As:

Food of the Gods Part 2 (USA) (poster title)
Gnaw: Food of the Gods II

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (VHS) (alternate rating) | Italy:VM18 (VHS) | Australia:M | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Iceland:(Banned) | Iceland:16 (cut) | Finland:(Banned) | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Norway:(Banned) (1989-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: During Edmund's demise, his toupee falls off and lands on the table. However when Neil and Alex come in later, the hairpiece is no longer on the table.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mark: [chanting and wearing a cow mask] Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights! Animals have rights!
[sees Delhurst approaching]
Mark: Professor Delhurst! Professor Delhurst, I wanna talk to you.
Edmund Delhurst: Would you get out of my way, please? I'm late.
Mark: For what? Another execution?
Edmund Delhurst: Somebody call security.
Mark: The animals keep checkin' in, but they don't check out, do they? You're not a scientist, you're an undertaker!
[Delhurst shoves past him]
Mark: We are not through, Professor Delhurst!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References "60 Minutes" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Shakin All Over

Rats and cheese: a very appropriate combination here.

Who would ever have thought that Bert I. Gordon's 1976 film adaptation of the H.G. Wells story "The Food of the Gods" would spawn a sequel, especially 13 years after the fact?

This is actually an in-name-only sequel, and the only animals to grow to huge proportions here are rats. They're kept in the lab of Professor Neil Hamilton (Paul Coufos, who bears a slight resemblance to Jeff Fahey), a geneticist working on plants. However, when a colleague implores him to create an antidote for a growth formula, he eventually starts working on animals. Thanks to the bungling of some animal rights activists, the rats escape and go on the inevitable rampage.

It becomes clear early on just how seriously one should take this fun if utterly ridiculous horror film. There's a child named Bobby (Sean Mitchell) who was given the growth formula and is now an ill-tempered giant-sized brat with a hilariously foul mouth. (The use of this character supposedly pays off in what is a pretty silly finish.) The music score is at times just plain absurd, and, overall, the film is just chock full of bad lines, not-so-hot acting, stock characters (we've got a college dean who acts dense at every turn, and an unscrupulous fellow professor), and a lack of good scares.

If one accepts it as tongue-in-cheek, it may yield more entertainment. I thought it stupid enough to be rather fun (I plead guilty to enjoying films of the "so bad they're good" variety), and it's certainly amusing to watch the actors keep their straight faces. We've also got a commendably high body count, visual and makeup effects that range from amusing to cruddy, and some appreciably gory rat attacks.

Folks may recognize some of the actors: Lisa Schrage as the love interest was the vengeance seeking title character in "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II", and doubtless you'll have seen Jackie Burroughs ('Road to Avonlea') and / or Colin Fox ('PSI Factor') in one thing or another.

This is indeed a junk film, but if you have a thing for rat-themed horror flicks (the '71 and '03 versions of "Willard", "Deadly Eyes", "Of Unknown Origin", etc.) you may want to take a look, if just for curiosity's sake.

5/10